Belleville West, Princeton Take Titles

New Aa Champ Beats Lockport

As Princeton was wrapping up its 15-12, 16-14 victory over Huntley in the Class A volleyball final at Redbird Arena, the Belleville West coach tried to appear calm while waiting in a nearby hallway.

Then his Maroons took the court against Lockport with the Class AA state title on the line.

Seven times since 1977, Rodman had brought teams to the state quarterfinals. Seven times, he had taken them home empty, with only one victory in that span.

But that sad streak ended Saturday night, when Belleville West overpowered Lockport 15-13, 15-3 to win that elusive first state championship. It had been six seasons since Lockport coach Julia Hudson had taken a team Downstate, finishing third in 1984. But the Porters were a worthy contender from a town of many athletes.

Five members of their team-Dawn Troutman, Lisa Troutman, Brandy Moran, Pam Porto and Tracy Hocutt-had helped the school`s softball team gain a runner-up state finish last spring.

Junior Jill Waddell`s sister, Mary Jo, was a key member of that last state team. And 6-foot-3-inch junior Angie Propp often is one of the state`s most intimidating presences.

The Porters, with Propp doing a dandy job of blocking and freshman Jennifer Peterson digging in the back row against 6-foot all-stater Marnie Triefenbach, started strong and built a 13-9 first-game lead. But they couldn`t put the game away as the Maroons rallied with six straight points.

In the second game, Triefenbach and the Maroons` other big hitter, 5-11 Lynn Crawley, added serving points to their attack.

Triefenbach served a run of seven straight, including three aces, that turned a 2-2 tie into a comfortable 8-2 lead.

Then, on Crawley`s serve, Triefenbach and Erin White provided the offense up front for four points and a 13-3 lead.

Rena Zenarosa served out the match to give Belleville West its 38th victory in 39 matches.

In the third-place match, Mother McAuley won the trophy, but La Salle-Peru earned something equally important-respect.

The Cavaliers rallied to give the Mighty Macs all they wanted in before McAuley posted a 15-1, 11-15, 15-9 victory.

Cavalier coach Mark Haberkorn has waited for a chance like this since he started building a volleyball program at La Salle-Peru three years ago.

``Mother McAuley`s a legend in volleyball,`` he said. ``I`ve told the girls for three years that I wanted to play the king of volleyball. Maybe we saw tonight what we have to do to become one of the state`s best programs.``

The Mighty Macs, who closed with a 34-6 record, had to regroup after their 15-11, 16-14, 15-2 semifinal loss to Belleville West, a match in which they led 14-9 in the second game.

The Macs played without all-state setter Nikki Valentine, who injured her right ankle in the semifinal.

``It`s really hard, after playing a team like Belleville, to go up against a team like La Salle-Peru that doesn`t have the big hitters. But we hung in there long enough,`` said McAuley coach Nancy Pedersen.

``We went back to our old rut of letting down in the second game. But we had enough to win.``

Five seniors closed their career for McAuley, including middle blocker Molly Maloney, who had 15 kills and three blocks, and Ann Eastman (seven kills).